Awoke to a grey sky, followed by drizzle - not great for our Corcovado summit attempt to see Cristo Redentor. We went for it anyway and flagged a taxi. As with our ride in to town, the taxi driver didn't seen to know where he was or how to get out of Santa Teresa, even to get to the city's number one tourist attraction and a wonder of the world! With use of satnav we got there and rode the train up the hill. Still raining when we got to the top but at least we could see the statue clearly, if not much of the view which was hidden by the clouds.
Stalled our exit down the hill long enough for the clouds to clear to give us the views of the entire city, albeit a bit of a hazy one.
Taxi back to Santa Teresa had to stop and ask for directions and turn around a few times - oh for a London cabbie!
After a bit of a siesta, crawled around a few of Santa Teresa's bars, beginning with Bar Do Gomes with an English couple. Walked down the Selaron stairs to Lapa to discover a place very different to the one we had seen during the daytime. Picked up some tinnies and joined the many others hanging around on the steps, some of whom were most certainly under the influence other than Antartica cerveza. Dallied through the streets under the Lapa arches, mingling with the dancing party goers, brass bands and street vendors, to the tune of samba clubs lining the streets.
As the rain got a bit heavier decided to call it a night and flagged a taxi rather than walk, just to be on the safe side. Driver quoted a price more than we were expecting, but as it was late we let it go. But the fact he wasn't using a meter should have promoted us in to a state of alertness. Tired and slightly boozy, and in holiday rather than intrepid traveller mode, it didn't. He then managed to trick us in to paying almost double his initially expensive price...... we think. Although we will never know.....